Chapter 54 Chapter 54
Leonidas's POV
One moment.
That was all it took.
One moment of hesitation.
One crack in her certainty.
And the Creator used it against us.
The chains binding him trembled and then suddenly it snapped.
One by one, the silver shattered while the shadow splintered.
The throne screamed not with sound as it does before but with force, making the blast threw all of us backward.
I hit the broken stone hard, pain tearing through my ribs again.
I couldn’t breathe neither could I move, but my eyes still moved around searching for her and when it did.
I found her.
Sable.
She stood frozen, her hands still on the throne.
Her face pale with a shattered expression.
Because the truth had just split her open.
Father.
The word had cut deeper than any blade could even cut.
The Creator rose slowly from the broken chains.
Power leaking from him like black fire.
His breathing was heavier now as he was hurt.
The seal had worked.
Almost.
And that made him dangerous because wounded monsters stop pretending.
His eyes stayed on Sable.
"You feel it now."
Sable stared at him.
"No."
But her voice shook.
And we all heard it.
The uncertainty and the doubt in her voice.
The Creator smiled.
Almost gently and somehow that felt worse.
"Yes."
The Fallen stood beside the throne, breathing hard, blood running down her chin.
"Don't listen to him."
The Creator looked at her.
"You knew."
The Fallen's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
Sable's head snapped toward her.
"What?"
Pain crossed the Fallen's face.
The real kind of pain not the physical kind.
The kind that lives in memory.
"I knew."
My stomach dropped.
She had known all this time.
And hadn't said it.
Sable stepped back from the throne.
Her silver–black power flickering wildly.
"You knew?"
The Fallen swallowed.
"I wanted you to choose for yourself."
"That wasn't your choice!"
The scream shook the arena.
The throne reacted violently again making the cracks spread deeper.
Reality splitting around us.
The dragon growled low.
"The throne is destabilizing."
Kael coughed blood beside me.
"Well, that sounds bad."
Zander pulled himself from the rubble, brushing blood from his mouth.
"Understatement."
Caius stood rigid, eyes locked on the Creator.
"You used us."
The Creator looked at him.
"I made you."
Caius laughed once coldly.
"No."
Shadow power curled violently around him.
"You abandoned me."
The Creator's eyes narrowed.
"Because you were not mine."
Silence.
That hit Caius like a knife.
His face hardened.
"What?"
The Shadow King stepped forward then.
And for the first time, he looked directly at the Creator with open hatred.
"Caius is my son."
The Creator smiled.
"Yes."
My mind reeled.
What?
Caius looked between them.
Confused and furious.
The Shadow King's voice was rough.
"He stole your blood."
The Creator’s eyes gleamed.
"I improved it."
That explained everything.
Caius's impossible power.
His darkness.
His bloodline.
He was not born he was altered. He was made.
Caius looked sick.
Like his own skin no longer belonged to him.
Sable wasn't listening anymore.
Her breathing was uneven.
Her eyes locked on the Creator.
"Why?"
He looked at her.
And for the first time his answer came without manipulation, without masks.
"Because I was lonely."
That stunned all of us.
Even the Fallen.
The Creator stepped forward.
Slowly not attacking.
Just speaking.
"When the world was empty, I made life."
His voice was softer now.
"I made power."
His gaze shifted to Sable.
"And then I made heirs."
The Fallen laughed bitterly.
"Heirs?"
Her voice cracked.
"Or replacements?"
The Creator's expression hardened.
"I made daughters."
His eyes moved between them.
"One to rule."
Then the Fallen.
"One to challenge."
The truth settled heavy.
That was the balance.
They were not sisters by chance rather they were built that way.
Designed conflict.
Designed balance.
Sable’s fists shook.
"You made us to fight."
The Creator's silence confirmed it.
And rage hit me.
Not the wolf rage but the personal rage any other person would have felt.
Because she wasn't a weapon.
Not now and definitely not ever.
I pushed myself up.
Pain ripping through every muscle.
My wolf was barely holding together but I stood.
The Creator noticed this and smiled faintly.
"You still rise."
I stepped forward.
"She's not yours."
His gaze sharpened.
"She is mine."
"No."
My voice cut hard.
"She chooses."
The Creator's eyes darkened.
"Choice."
He said it like disgust.
"Choice creates chaos."
I laughed bleeding slightly.
Broken but still laughing.
"Good," I said.
That caught him off guard.
"Chaos means freedom."
The Creator's face went cold.
"And freedom breeds weakness."
Sable moved then.
Stepping between us while she placed her eyes on him.
"No."
Her power rose again.
Stronger and sharper than before.
"Freedom breeds truth."
The throne pulsed.
Responding.
The Creator’s gaze narrowed.
He could feel it too.
The throne agreeing to her words and that unsettled him.
Which was a good thing.
The Fallen stepped beside Sable.
Not behind or beneath her but directly beside her.
And their powers balanced again.
Silver.
Shadow.
It was whole again.
The Creator looked at them.
And for the first time, there was hesitation on his face because they weren't what he made anymore.
They had become something else.
Something beyond design.
The dragon rose.
Massive.
Wounded.
Ancient.
"The throne chooses what evolves."
The Creator looked at it.
"And you would serve this?"
The dragon's eyes burned.
"I serve balance."
Kael shifted back into human form, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Okay, enough talking."
He cracked his neck.
"What's the plan?"
That was the question.
Because we couldn't brute–force this.
The Creator was too strong.
The throne could seal him but only if Sable was certain.
There would be no doubt, no sign of hesitation.
And right now, the truth had broken her which the Creator knew it too.
He looked at her gently.
Again, that softness face of his which he always uses.
That twisted affection.
"You don't have to fear me."
Sable laughed sharply.
Which I knew was painful.
"You destroyed everything."
His expression remained calm.
"To protect what I made."
The Fallen spat blood.
"You call that protection?"
The Creator's eyes moved to her.
"You betrayed me."
The Fallen's smile turned cruel.
"No."
She stepped forward.
"I became more than you."
That made something inside him snap as we all could feel power explode from him.
The arena shook.
Stone shattered.
The Hollows began reforming behind him as they were not dead.
They were rebuilding, regenerating.
Kael cursed.
"Oh come on."
Zander’s face tightened.
"They're linked to him."
Meaning of we kill him, we kill them.
It sounded like a simple thing but was impossible.
The Shadow King stepped beside me. Blood running from his temple.
"He's unstable now."
I looked at him.
"Meaning?"
"He's angry."
That answer wasn't enough.
Then Caius answered.
"And angry means reckless."
Good.
That I understood.
The Creator raised his hand and the Hollows attacked us again.
The battlefield that was calm before erupted again.
Kael lunged first with Malrik with him.
Wolves crashing into monsters. The dragon tore through three at once.
Zander disappeared into shadows and reappeared ripping hearts out.
Caius and the Shadow King unleashed darkness like storms.
And me, I ran straight for the Creator because if Sable needed time then I'd buy it.
He caught my throat mid-lunge, lifted me up effortless.
His grip crushed.
"You are persistent."
I clawed at his arm making blood flow again.
He frowned.
Interesting.
My blood hurt him.
Why?
The mate bond.
Queen–bonded Alpha.
The realization hit.
I wasn't just her mate, I was also linked to throne power through her.
That's why I could resist.
Why I stayed standing.
Why he noticed me.
The Creator saw understanding in my eyes.
And smiled.
"Now you see."
He threw me hard to the ground while I rolled, coughing blood.
Sable screamed my name.
And that changed everything.
The Creator moved toward me fast to finish it.
And Sable snapped with anger.
Power exploded everywhere.
Pure silver–black.
Violent.
Ancient.
The blast sent him flying.
Actually flying as he crashed through the broken throne.
Silence.
Everyone froze in shock.
Sable stood there shaking.
Power roaring around her.
Her eyes glowing.
She was furious.
The Creator rose slowly from the rubble bleeding heavily.
And smiling.
"That's my daughter."
Sable's voice shook the arena.
"No."
She stepped forward.
"I am not your daughter."
He laughed.
"Blood says otherwise."
She shook her head.
"Blood isn't ownership."
The throne pulsed loudly.
Approving.
The Creator's smile faded.
Because now even the throne was with her.
Not him the Creator.
Her.
The Fallen moved beside her.
Their hands locked together.
And this time with no hesitation and no doubt.
Sable looked at her.
And I saw it.
That understanding and forgiveness face.
Not completely but it was enough.
Family.
That were chosen not made.
That difference mattered.
The Creator saw it too.
And for the first time, I saw fear on his face.
Real fear.
Because his greatest flaw wasn't weakness.
It was misunderstanding love.
He created blood.
But not loyalty, not choice or bond.
Sable looked at me.
And I knew.
This was it.
The final choice.
The final seal.
The final war.
The throne rose behind them and it didn't cracked now rather it was reforming and changing.
Silver and shadow weaving into something new.
A twin throne that was balanced.
The Creator stepped back.
Actually back.
"No."
His voice carried real panic.
The dragon bowed deeply.
"It accepts both."
The Fallen smiled.
"Yes."
Sable raised her hand.
Chains of silver and shadow formed together.
It was stronger, cleaner and felt alive.
The Creator roared and the entire Hollow army charged.
All at once.
Thousands of them.
The battlefield became hell.
And I realized that if those chains are going to hold them we have to survive long enough for her to finish.
I bared my teeth.
Turned toward the army and growled.
"Then let's buy our Queen time."
And behind me—
the twin throne awakened fully.